Original Mark

Spotted Mark

Our client, NewBoy FZCO, a UAE company and the original owner of the trademark “fulla”, which is registered in its home country as well as in neighbouring countries in class 3.

Through our watching service, we discovered a similar application for “Fellah” dated 18 August 2014, which was filed in the UAE under number 215923 also in class 3 by a local trader and published in the Official Gazette number 145 on 1 October 2014.

Following our client’s instructions, we filed an opposition against said application based on the similarity between the marks, and prior use and registration in its home country and abroad.

The trademark Registrar considered the fact that the opposed mark had similar pronunciation to our client’s and also that it had a similar overall appearance to “fulla”. Therefore, a decision was issued in our client’s favour and the Registrar cancelled the subject application.

For more information, please contact uae@qumsieh.com.

Our client, “NewBoy FZCO”, a Free Zone company in the UAE, owns the registered trademark FULLA and Design covering several classes and shapes.

The Gazette published the opposed mark’s data as follows:

Trademark Name: Fulla Aljamilla with Arabic transliteration and device
Applicant Name: MAROC NEGOCES & SERVICES
Filing Number: 156328
Filing Date: 13 December 2013
Gazette Date: 9 January 2014
Gazette Number: 25

Acting on behalf of our client, we lodged an opposition based on the following:

• The opposed trademark is confusingly similar to our client’s mark Fulla and Device;
• The main element of the mark is the word Fulla while the second element, Aljamila, in Arabic means beautiful which is descriptive;
• Our client has a world wide registration of his trademark in classes 3, 9, 16, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 38, and 40;
• The trademark “Fulla” has been used heavily by our client for a long time and has therefore become famous;
• The applicant is trying to take advantage of the popularity and the fame of our client’s well known trademark to generate extra income, and
• Registration of the opposed mark will lead to unfair competition with our client and will infringe our client’s rights.

After full prosecution, the Registrar issued its decision in our favour by accepting our opposition and subsequently rejecting the registration of the infringing trademark. Since the decision was not appealed before the First Instance Court within 15 days, it has become final.

If you have any questions, please contact us at yemen@qumsieh.com.